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#1141694 - 06/10/1807:07 PMtop ten songwriters of the last fifty years.

We had a list like this before, always hard to agree on 10. All those guys are great.

I really think a list has to be in categories, and eras. Without categories it's more personal likes. You can't compare Merle Haggard with Prince. You can't compare Pete Seeger with Smokey Robinson. Even decades are hard...

Can you compare Ray Davies with Jack White, I gues you could, but i think we all realize that modern songwriters are not in that league, but they can still be great

You can't compare Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift, even.

But my personal list....id have any easier time coming up with 50 and breaking them into categories and eras but....

I know Scott, this has come up before. He is THE singer songwriter, but I'm more a fan of the people he influenced more than himself.

I can't like a singer songwriter because I'm supposed to, I have to actually like the music. I like a handful of Dylan's songs very much, but I don't listen to him for entertainment...aside from like a rolling stone

Well Lessee "Fido", Why don't you go find that song I'VE FORGOTTEN MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW by the Davis Sisters! Or, ALL THE MONKEYS AIN'T IN THE ZOO by Tommy Collins, or PHILADELPHIA LAWYER by Maddox Brothers and Rose or YONDER COMES A SUCKER by Jim Reeves or SMOKE ALONG THE TRACK by Stonewall Jackson, etc., etc., etc. Great songwriters? Too many to count.

Well, to your point, that is why it's so hard to come up with a unified list.

There are folks like you who only listen to 1950s Country, how could you possibly cover it all. You wouldn't even be able to come up with an unbiased country list. All we can do is write a favorites list.

Aw, Gee, Shucks, I have all kinds of music in my collection. Today I broke out a 4 CD collection, THE EARLY 30's, Those were our songs. I will mention one song in the Collection. PAPER MOON. you heard it "Fido"? If not it is probably posted on youTube.

It is only a paper moonHanging over a cardboard seaBut it wouldn't be make believeIf you believe in meIt is only a canvas skySailing over a muslin treeBut it wouldn't be make believeIf you believe in me

Without your loveIt's a honky-tonk paradeWithout your loveIt's a melody played on a penny arcadeIt's a Barnum and Bailey worldJust as phony as it can beBut it wouldn't be make believeIf you believe in me

Without your loveIt's a honky-tonk paradeWithout your loveIt's a melody played on a penny arcadeIt's a Barnum and Bailey worldJust as phony as it can beBut it wouldn't be make believeIf you believe in me

Ray,So explain to me why Paper Moon is a great song. I don't want you to copy and paste it off of some site, I want you to tell me why it's a great song.

Why not?

Someone asked Dylan who the greatest poet of the twentieth century was, and he said Smokey Robinson.

That's a great answer. I love Smokey, but it's not a question that has a right or wrong answer. Ray will probably tell you what's great about "Paper Moon." But all songs are paper moons - great only if they're great in the eye of the beholder.

Eh, Well, Fdemetrio, Why is Paper Moon a great song? Well maybe that is like trying to explain why the sky is blue. The song is not too complicated, has that something that gets your attention. One of the biggest hits of all time was IN THE JAIL HOUSE NOW. Written by Jimmy Rogers and made a huge Hit by Webb Pierce. Very simplistic but had something that got your attention.

Tons of great songs out there written by many people over time. You may not be able to explain a great song, but you will know one when you hear it.

Delmont, it's funny Dylan said that about Smokey. I don't consider Smokey a great poet, but i do consider him one of the best pop songwriters of all time, but I'm not gonna argue with Dylan either, not unless he shows up here and starts something.........lol.

I have no idea. I'm not even sure I get the question. My ten favorite? The ten that I think are the most popular? The top ten in sales? The top ten on the Hit Parade? The ten most prolific? The ten that critics like best?

And - past fifty years? Martha Reeves is still alive, but her big hits were all pre-1968. So would she count or not? And, shoot, what's the fun of a top songwriter list if you can't name Woody Guthrie, Aunt Molly Jackson, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, or Florence Reece?

Anyhow, to answer one of your questions, I didn't name any of the ones you did because I wouldn't have thought of them. You did.

Here are ten I can think of offhand. I'd include Garcia/Hunter, Jagger/Richards, and maybe Lennon/McCartney, but the question specifies individuals, not teams. Anyhow: